Two-day Israel Bond Conference to Adopt Quota for 1958 Campaign

A program to speed the economic development of Israel, especially the Negev region during 1958, will be projected next week-end at the national leadership conference for Israel bonds, meeting at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, it was announced here today by Dr. Joseph J, Schwartz, vice president of the Israel Bond Organization. More than 300 key Jewish leaders of the United States and Canada will take part in the sessions starting Saturday evening, January 11.

The meeting will review the achievements of the 1957 Israel bond drive, and set forth detailed plans for the attainment of record bond sales during 1958. The conference will adopt a quota for the 1958 drive. In announcing plans for the conference, Dr. Schwartz stressed the key role of Israel bonds in helping Israel to fulfill its vital program of industrial and agricultural growth for the coming year, and emphasized the importance of the Negev in Israel’s economic plans for 1958.

“The Negev must be the center of Israel’s growth, not only during 1958 but in the years to follow,” Dr. Schwartz said. “This is the area where new settlements must be established. This is the area where irrigation must convert additional tens of thousands of acres to use as farmland. In this part of the country, natural resources such as oil, phosphates and copper must be exploited at an intensified rate. The Negev is the hinterland of Elath, on the Gulf of Akaba, and must be built up to give that port greater economic strength through the development of industry for export.”